Critics slam Netanyahu’s alleged OK for national guard: ‘Private Ben Gvir militia’

Opposition and other figures slam the alleged agreement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a “national guard” to fight crime, a demand by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as a condition for the latter’s agreement to delay the judicial overhaul plan.

Labor MK Gilad Kariv comments on Ben Gvir’s claim that the guard will be under his own ministry: “The national guard must be under the police rather than under the control of [far-right group] Lehava and the rest of the Kahanists” — a reference to followers of extremist anti-Arab rabbi Meir Kahane.

Kariv urges the Shin Bet security service to oppose forming “Ben Gvir law-approved militia.”

Former police chief Moshe Karadi says Ben Gvir “has formed a private militia for his political needs. He’s dismantling Israeli democracy.

“The Ben Gvir law is dangerous and is a distinct characteristic of turning Israel into a dictatorship.”